Mexican President Felipe Calderon eyes the future

(CNN) -- Felipe Calderon took the oath of office on December 1 as Mexico's president amid jeers and chaos in a divisive Mexican Congress and as protests erupted elsewhere in Mexico City.

Like the swearing-in ceremony, Calderon's path to the presidency wasn't easy.

He won a narrow victory in the July 2 presidential election, and his opponent, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, took his recount demands to the country's Federal Electoral Tribunal. Weeks after the election, the tribunal upheld the results, and said there were no signs of fraud.

After being in office for less than two weeks, Calderon ordered a massive attack on the drug trade in his home state, Michoacan, which is in the southwestern portion of the country.

On a December 20 visit to the United States, the president vowed to create more job opportunities in Mexico to help stem the steady flow of immigrants into the United States. This emphasis would depart from that of Calderon's predecessor and political ally, Vicente Fox, who sought U.S. support for programs that would help Mexicans already living in the United States, such as a guest worker program. Fox also favored initiatives that would make it easier for Mexican immigrants to earn legal status.

But like Fox, Calderon vehemently opposes the construction of a nearly 700-mile border fence that President Bush approved in October.

Before Calderon was elected president, he served in several top positions in his political party, conservative PAN, including Parliamentary Coordinator and President of National Action. He earned a law degree from Escuela Libre de Derecho, a master's degree in economics from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University.

Calderon lives in Los Pinos, the Mexican presidential residence, with his wife and three children.